The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers

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About national and international power in the "modern" or Post Renaissance period. Explains how the various powers have risen and fallen over the 5 centuries since the formation of the "new monarchies" in W. Europe.

Acknowledgments

vii

Maps

xi

Tables and Charts

xiii

Introduction

xv

STRATEGY AND ECONOMICS IN THE PREINDUSTRIAL WORLD

The Rise of the Western World

3

(28)

Ming China

4

(5)

The Muslim World

9

(5)

Two Outsiders---Japan and Russia

14

(2)

The ``European Miracle''

16

(15)

The Habsburg Bid for Mastery, 1519--1659

31

(42)

The Meaning and Chronology of the Struggle

32

(9)

Strengths and Weaknesses of the Habsburg Bloc

41

(14)

International Comparisons

55

(15)

War, Money, and the Nation-State

70

(3)

Finance, Geography, and the Winning of Wars, 1660--1815

73

(70)

The ``Financial Revolution''

76

(10)

Geopolitics

86

(14)

The Winning of Wars, 1660--1763

100

(15)

The Winning of Wars, 1763--1815

115

(28)

STRATEGY AND ECONOMICS IN THE INDUSTRIAL ERA

Industrialization and the Shifting Global Balances, 1815--1885

143

(51)

The Eclipse of the Non-European World

147

(4)

Britain as Hegemon?

151

(7)

The ``Middle Powers''

158

(12)

The Crimean War and the Erosion of Russian Power

170

(8)

The United States and the Civil War

178

(4)

The Wars of German Unification

182

(9)

Conclusions

191

(3)

The Coming of a Bipolar World and the Crisis of the ``Middle Powers'': Part One, 1885--1918

194

(81)

The Shifting Balance of World Forces

198

(4)

The Position of the Powers, 1885--1914

202

(47)

Alliances and the Drift to War, 1890--1914

249

(7)

Total War and the Power Balances, 1914--1918

256

(19)

The Coming of a Bipolar World and the Crisis of the ``Middle Power'': Part Two, 1919--1942